It is no surprise to me that we Brits continue to guzzle shedloads of wine. Our per capita annual consumption may be about half that of France, which leads the field, but GB ignores such things as credit crunches and market downturns because we are wedded to booze.

This used to be beer. 50 years ago only 5% of the nation drank wine. Now it is nearer six times that, pubs struggle to sell beer, and the amount of wine imported keep on rising. Why? Well, beer is only drunk by losers and sadsacks, unsexy people who care nothing for their minds or their bodies.

That's point one. Point two is that wine goes with the spicy foods we like (which no beer does), is much more of a communal activity and, when it comes down to it, encourages livelier and more intelligent conversation. When was the last time you heard a beer drinker pass a witty remark?Beer drinkers are also terrible lovers, awful husbands, and untidy flatmates.

Wine is the supercool liquid and drunk sensibly is actually good for you. It's a health drink. Wine has changed from the dry-as-dust, unpronounceable gunge it was in our grandparents' day. Wine in New Labour Land is vivacious, fruity, inexpensive, and it's fun. Small wonder wine drinkers prefer Australia, California, South Africa and Chile to France and Germany.

The wines from these countries speak our language (yes, even Chilean labels don't say Chateau Lamazelle de Figeac Brown Cantenac Lafite), they are open and furiously fruity, gluggable and yet serious, and they are not expensive.

When I became a professional booze hack exactly 20 years ago the French share of the UK market was around 37%. Now it's a bit over 21%. Back in those days, the days of awful Tory governments, the Aussie share of the UK market was less than half of one percent. Now the Aussie share is 23% and even the Californians' share of the market, by value, is greater than France's.

It is a wine revolution and every time you drop in on a bar and enjoy a glass of Chilean cabernet sauvignon or acquire a bottle of succulent Australian shiraz from your local supermarket you are being a revolutionary. And as dear old Che used to say, Viva la revolucion!

I'm sure wine writer Oz Clarke, currently trumpeting the appeal of British beer on BBC2, will be pleased to hear from Malcolm Gluck that he's a sad and unsexy loser who lacks a sense of humour. What Oz's series reveals is that beer is flourishing in Britain and is not being drowned by a flood of imported grape juice.

I don't deny that sales of wine have increased in Britain. But we still drink far more beer: wine has overtaken beer in the off-trade but beer easily outsells it in pubs, in spite of the best efforts of Gluck's much-loved Labour government to knacker the pub trade with the smoking ban and regular hikes in beer duty.

Beer is in fact enjoying a remarkable renaissance. I'm talking of craft beer, quality beer, brewed by craftsmen, not the bland and tasteless Euro-fizz produced by global brewers. Close to 250 new craft breweries have opened in the past three years. There are more than 500 breweries operating in Britain and choice and diversity have never been better. Thanks to the efforts of craft brewers, drinkers have a profusion of choice, with good old mild and bitter joined by genuine India Pale Ales, porters, stouts, old ales and barley wines and new styles such as golden ales and fruit beers.

While sales of mass-produced lagers are in freefall, the demand for craft beers has seen their sales rise by more than 10% a year. This should be welcomed, not decried with the kind of mindless abuse used by Malcolm Gluck. Britain is a country with a proud brewing heritage, a heritage now enjoying a spirited revival. I'm sorry to disappoint you, Malcolm, but beer will not go away. Have a word with your mate Oz.

· Roger Protz edits the Camra Good Beer Guide and blogs at beer-pages.com

damn what an A$$hat. I hate people like him, on both sides of the pond and arguement. I know some that like wine, good for them. my wife and I really tried but our taste buds prefer beer to wine, except very fruity whites. Both are good in their own way and I always will give a wine a try, as maybe there is one out there for me I just have not found, kinda like my SWMBO who didn't like beer until she tried a porter, and is now a dark brew junkie.

This kinda like the skier vs snowboarder thing I guess, some just like to have rivalries, me I ski, used to snowboard, but like mogul skiing more, I prefer moountains that allow both, but keep snowboarders away from moguls, as they destroy them, but want to go to a place that lets me do runs wih my snowboarding buds. Anyway living in desert now so rarely do either, just home brew, oc pc's and wrench the mc.

That's why I can't understand why there are so many liberals flopping around this site. Shouldn't they be off enjoying witty conversation whilst sipping trendy wines in their latest-fashion clothes and thick-rimmed glasses? I'll drink beer in their place.

That's why I can't understand why there are so many liberals flopping around this site. Shouldn't they be off enjoying witty conversation whilst sipping trendy wines in their latest-fashion clothes and thick-rimmed glasses? I'll drink beer in their place.

flopping around? did you just compare liberals to fish? does that make them christians?

"Point two is that wine goes with the spicy foods we like (which no beer does), is much more of a
communal activity and, when it comes down to it, encourages livelier and more intelligent conversation.
When was the last time you heard a beer drinker pass a witty remark? Beer drinkers are also terrible
lovers, awful husbands, and untidy flatmates."

I couldn't believe he was being serious - I really thought it was sarcasm.